NELSPRUIT – The saga regarding the fate of the city’s name came to a head this week in the Pretoria High Court.
The Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT) took the minister of arts and culture to court after Nelspruit’s name was changed to Mbombela. Both sides made their cases in court on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The KLCBT’s main argument was that it claimed the process followed to arrive at the change had been flawed. Council also voted in favour of Mbombela City, while Mbombela was proclaimed the new name.
The defence, however, argued that the chamber had taken too long to take legal action. Mr Johann du Preez from Kruger and Partners Inc, who has been providing legal services to the chamber, explained that they had tried to avoid court action and instead negotiated with the municipality for a long time.
Ms Linda Grimbeek of the KLCBT added that when that failed, they still had to raise money for the court case. As a result, it took about a year longer than the period allowed.
“We only had six months since the date of the letter from the minister rejecting our protestations to take legal action. We went ahead because we believed that it was in the interest of justice. The decision affects an entire community,” Grimbeek said.
Du Preez said the documents they submitted as evidence amounted to 1 600 pages. “It was the most extensive case I have ever worked on.”
While the court proceedings have been completed, the judgement may take some time to be delivered. In the meantime, both Mbombela and Nelspruit are being used. In court this week, the KLCBT was represented by Adv Gerhard Cilliers SC and Adv Mervin Ripp.
The chamber has raised the R528 000 it needed for the case from the community so far. An additional R200 000 is needed for the actual court proceedings, for which they plan to raise money with a golf day early next year.
“We are satisfied with the way the court proceedings have gone,” Grimbeek said. “We feel that we had a fair hearing. It was very important to us that our side of the story be heard, and we have now been heard. In that regard we have already achieved one of our goals.”
